Should Vancouver Get Another Shot at an NBA Franchise?

‘Dr. Dino’ a.k.a. James Borbath from Dino Nation Blog, is a Broadcast Journalism Grad turned basketball blogger. He has worked as the publisher and writer of the Dino Nation Blog for almost 2 years. Dino Nation Blog is part of the sports federation of theScore.com. James also live blogs many NBA games for The Score. Beyond that James says: “I am one of the few people you will find north of the border that thinks basketball first and hockey last.”

The Grizzlies never got a fair chance in Vancouver. In a recent article in Forbes the Memphis Grizzlies were given the honor of being named the worst sports franchise in all of sports. While the Toronto Raptors are set to celebrate 15 years in the NBA, next year the Grizzlies have little beyond the second pick in the draft to celebrate. Oh and by the way Ricky Rubio has made it known he has 0 interest in playing for the Grizz. Up here in Canada there has been a movement to bring a 7th NHL team to Canada in the Southern Ontario region. To be specific Hamilton, Ontario. Jim Ballsille, the head of RIM (the company that makes the blackberry), is the money behind this push. He is looking to take the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Ontario. Hamilton, Ontario is home to the CFL Ti-Cats and wouldn’t you know is also my home town. It is about an hour to 45 minutes outside of Toronto. Being a basketball fan in Canada can be tough. Hockey is the first, second and sometimes third most popular sport. Ballsille in the effort to drive home his point created a site called makeitseven.ca.

Well I say why not makeit2.ca. Is it Vancouver’s fault that Stu Jackson had not a clue how to run a basketball franchise? He drafted Bryant ” Big Country” Reeves after all. Was it Vancouver’s fault that Steve Francis is a jerk and did not want to play for them? The franchise had sold to a guy that had an agenda to move them and the Vancouver Grizzlies were no more. Since the move to Memphis things have not got any better for the franchise on the court. In terms of off the court activities, I think you could argue they had more support in Vancouver than they have now in Memphis. There was a rumor that a management group was looking to buy the Pacers and move them to Vancouver. I’m not saying the Pacers would be the team I would want to be moved. People in Indiana will come to games in the long run. However David Stern has been honest about the state of the league and there is no doubt teams are in trouble. So why not give Vancouver another shot. The NBA has done it before in places like Charlotte, New Orleans and elsewhere. One thing is clear, that if the economy does not turn around, be it Vancouver or somewhere else, teams could be on the move. Maybe that is why the NBA, MLB and NFL have all got into the court case in Arizona in support of the NHL. No leagues want to lose control of where their franchises can go.